Journey to Babel (episode)
As the Enterprise comes under attack on the way to a diplomatic conference on Babel, one of the alien dignitaries is murdered, and Spock's sick father Sarek is the only suspect. Summary Teaser The arrives in orbit around Vulcan, picking up the last delegation of Vulcans to add to an assortment of ambassadors and dignitaries aboard (including Andorians and Tellarites). The delegates will be attending a conference on Babel to decide the admission of the planet Coridan to the Federation, which is rich in dilithium but poorly defended. As the shuttle of Vulcans arrives, Kirk and McCoy discover that the Vulcan ambassador to Earth, Sarek, and his Human wife Amanda, are in fact Spock's parents. Act One :"Captain's log, stardate 3842.3. We have departed Vulcan for the neutral planetoid code-named Babel. Since it is in our sector, the ''Enterprise has been assigned to transport ambassadors of Federation planets to this vitally important council. The issues of the council are politically complex, the passengers... explosive." As Kirk conducts a tour of the ship for the ambassador and his wife, he also discovers roots of estrangement between Spock and his father, springing from Spock's election to attend Starfleet Academy over his father's choice of the Vulcan Science Academy. Kirk voices his support of Spock's choices and his personal friendship with Spock to Amanda, who appreciates the sentiment but also warns that the estrangement may be permanent. :"''Captain's log, stardate 3842.4. The interplanetary conference will consider the petition of the Coridan planets to be admitted to the Federation. The Coridan system has been claimed by some of the races now aboard our ship as delegates, races who have strong personal reasons for keeping Coridan out of the Federation. The most pressing problem aboard the ''Enterprise is to make sure that open warfare does not break out among the delegates, before the conference begins." As the delegates meet at a reception and Kirk and McCoy discover hints of Spock's childhood from Amanda, Sarek encounters voices of vehement opposition to Coridan's admission from the Tellarite ambassador, Gav. Kirk also learns the ''Enterprise is being tailed by a mysterious unidentified vessel, and someone within his own ship is in secret communication with it. Amanda speaks with her husband against their son's estrangement, but Sarek resists. Later, Sarek is again confronted by Gav, and a brief struggle ensues, broken up by Kirk. Gav's lifeless body is later found stuffed up a Jefferies tube. Act Two Kirk, Spock and McCoy investigate Gav's murder. McCoy explains his neck was broken in a very precise manner, leading Spock to conclude it can only be a Vulcan execution technique called Tal-Shaya. Kirk then deduces that Sarek is logically the prime suspect, but when he is confronted by Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, it is revealed that Sarek is becoming increasingly ill with a cardiac defect, and claims he could not have committed the murder. It falls on McCoy to attempt to heal the ambassador with surgery, but the doctor has reservations, what with his own limited surgical experience on Vulcans and the requirement of large amounts of a rare Vulcan blood type. Spock elects to take the role of blood donor, risking his own life by taking a dangerous stimulant to induce blood cell production despite Amanda's objections. However, Kirk is suddenly stabbed by Andorian delegate Thelev. He subdues Thelev and alerts Spock on the bridge, before passing out in the corridor. Act Three :"Captain's log, stardate 3843.4. First Officer Spock in temporary command. The captain has been critically wounded by one of the delegates to the Babel conference. The ship is on alert status. We are still being followed by the intruder vessel." Thelev is placed into custody. Kirk has survived the assassination attempt, but now Spock refuses to participate in the procedure while his captain is lying in sickbay. In a bold move, Kirk assumes command before he is fully healed, and sends Spock to surgery. As McCoy takes blood from Spock and begins to operate on Sarek, the unidentified ship begins to open fire on the Enterprise. The smaller vessel makes unbelievably quick passes and phaser strikes against the larger starship, too fast for Enterprise to return fire effectively. Thelev attempts to escape from his cell, but is stunned unconscious. As he falls his antenna breaks, revealing a transmitter to communicate with the attacking vessel. As the Enterprise continues to fight a losing battle against the smaller and faster ship, shuddering with each successive hit and suffering power losses, McCoy fears he may lose both his patients. Act Four As Enterprise struggles against the unknown vessel, Thelev is brought to the bridge, where Kirk confronts him as to his true identity. Thelev is uncooperative, preferring to taunt Kirk and enjoy the view of his fellow ship succeeding over the larger Enterprise. As the power goes out in sickbay, Sarek goes into cardiac arrest. McCoy and Nurse Christine Chapel try to make do with portable resuscitation equipment in an attempt to restart his heart again. Meanwhile Kirk, fed up with Thelev's taunts and the other ship's apparently superior tactical ability, does the unthinkable. He drops the shields, then systematically fakes losing all power to lure the other ship in. Enterprise appears dead in space. The enemy ship appears to hesitate, then slowly closes in for the kill. As soon as it is in range, Kirk delivers phaser fire that cripples the vessel, to the observing Thelev's disappointment. The mystery ship then self-destructs to avoid capture, and Thelev commits suicide on the bridge via slow poison. In sickbay, Kirk discovers that Sarek's surgery was a success, and not only are he and Spock recovering well, but also talking again as father and son. They even tease Amanda together, Sarek explaining that despite her rampant emotions a marriage to Amanda seemed at the time the only logical thing to do. When Kirk orders McCoy to perform an autopsy on Thelev to determine his true identity, Spock surmises Thelev and the attackers in the enemy ship were Orions, who had much to gain from disrupting the Babel conference so they could continue to loot Coridan of its dilithium. Kirk then slumps, finally too exhausted and in pain to continue, but he continues to protest as he is led to another empty bed in the ward by McCoy and Nurse Chapel. McCoy, eventually successful in telling Kirk and Spock to lie still and shut up, finally gains his first "last word" of the original series. Memorable Quotes "That hurts worse than the uniform." :- McCoy after attempting a Vulcan salute "Mr. Spock – explain the computer components." (pause) "I gave Spock his first instruction in computers, captain. He chose to devote his knowledge to Starfleet, rather than the Vulcan Science Academy." : - Kirk and Sarek "They're both – ''stubborn." "''A ''human trait, captain?" : - '''Kirk' and Amanda, discussing Sarek and Spock "A ''teddy bear!" "''Not precisely, Doctor. On Vulcan, the ''teddy bears are alive – and they have six-inch fangs." : - '''McCoy' and Spock, after learning of Spock's pet sehlat "There will be payment for your slander, Sarek." "Threats are illogical. And payment is usually expensive." :- Vulcan ambassador Sarek disagrees with Tellarite diplomat Gav "Captain, the intercoms are jammed. All the ambassadors are asking what's going on." "Tell them to take a good... guess, but clear that board, lieutenant!" : - Uhura and Kirk "Are you quite through shaking this ship around?" : - McCoy, to Kirk "Logic! ''Logic! I'm sick to death of logic! Do you want to know how I feel about your logic?" : - '''Amanda' "Emotional, isn't she?" "She has always been that way." "Indeed – why did you marry her?" "At the time, it seemed the logical thing to do." : - Spock and Sarek discussing Amanda's outburst "Now, if you keep arguing with your kindly family doctor, you'll find yourself spending the next ten days right here. Cooperate – and you'll be out in two." : - McCoy, after Kirk protests his extended stay in sickbay "Dr. McCoy, I believe you're enjoying all this." "Indeed, Captain. I've never seen him look so happy." "Shut up!" :- Kirk, Spock and Dr. McCoy, when McCoy orders the other two to remain in sickbay to recuperate "Well, what do you know? I finally got the last word!" :- McCoy Background Information * The actor playing Gav couldn't see well through the prosthetics over his eyes, thus causing him to raise his head to see. This added to the early mythos that the Tellarites were arrogant. * Tellarites were seen in two third-season episodes, with greatly modified masks. * An unused make-up scheme for the Tellarites can be seen in the end credits of several episodes. * The matte shot of Uhura appearing on the screen in engineering is one of the smallest mattes ever used in the series until the view discs in . * For some unknown reason, during the fight between Thelev and Kirk, just after Kirk's failed wall kick the comical sound effect of a coconut conk can be heard. This may have been meant to indicate Thelev's head hitting the floor. In the Remastered Edition of this episode it seems that this slightly silly effect has been removed from the fight. * During the same fight Thelev's hands noticeably alternate between Andorian-blue and stunt-man "pink". * The unknown actor who plays one of Sarek's aides also appeared as mirror Spock's Vulcan bodyguard in . It may be Leonard Nimoy's stand-in, Frank da Vinci. * This episode introduces the Andorians and the Tellarites. Along with Humans and the Vulcans, they are two of the four founding members of the United Federation of Planets. * The guest actors in this segment are uniformly excellent, with Jane Wyatt and Mark Lenard leaving their mark with some of the most memorable portrayals in the series. As a tribute to her long and distinguished career, Wyatt is called "Miss Jane Wyatt" in the closing credits. * John Wheeler, William O'Connell and Reggie Nalder make the most of their small roles, with Nalder's Austrian accent giving a great sense of the exotic to the role of Shras. * We learn about Spock's childhood pet, a sehlat, in this episode. We finally meet I-Chaya in D.C. Fontana's animated episode, . * Andorian make-up was very expensive. Three different sets had to be created, for O'Connell, Nalder and for the stuntman doubling for O'Connell. * Many of the costumes worn by extras in the hallway and reception room scenes were recycled from several first season episodes, including the outfits worn by Galactic High Commissioner Ferris from and by Lazarus in . * The Orion ship, a convincing piece of animation, is recycled as the missile in . * The coded message sent by Thelev is the same signal heard in . * Jim Shepherd, Thelev's stunt double, died in a stunt accident on another show/movie shortly after his work in this episode. * In the original script Sarek and his company were beamed aboard the Enterprise. But after going over budget with the expensive Vulcan, Andorian, Tellarite make-ups and the outer space footage of the Orion ship there was no money left for the transporter effect. Their transportation to the ship by shuttlecraft was decided because it could be made completely by using stock footage from . The resulting scene was far more dramatic and interesting than a beam-over would have been. *James Doohan (Scotty) and George Takei (Sulu) do not appear in this episode, although McCoy and Kirk do mention Scotty's name. * If you look behind McCoy while Amanda is inquiring about Sarek's condition, you will see the Tantalus field controls used in . * According to Spock, the Orion ship travels at "approximately warp 10" in its first pass. * According to Uhura, Starfleet says "No authorized Federation vessel in this quadrant". The quadrant that she is referring to is obviously a different kind than the galactic Alpha, Beta, etc. quadrants. * The Tellarite ambassador is found dead in "Deck 11, section A3", which according to Matt Jefferies' original internal schematics is at the bottom of the main interconnecting dorsal. The "slanting wall tube" that the Tellarite is found sprawled in is also identified as "Engineering Circuit Bay" by the wall plaque in another episode. * Spock reports that he gets readings of "trititanium" in the Orion ship's hull. It is not clear if the entire hull is made of it or parts of it. Trititanium is the material that the Enterprise's hull is made of as Gene Roddenberry says in his [[Star Trek: The Motion Picture (novel)|novelization of The Motion Picture]]. It is not clear whether it is the same material as "tritanium" which is reported to be "20 times as hard as diamond" in . * Kirk orders that photon torpedo "tubes 2, 4, and 6" to be loaded, and requests "widest possible scatter". The ship only seems to get off two shots though, and Chekov reports "a full spread miss, sir". Photon torpedoes also seem to be controlled by Chekov from the science station in this episode. * After repeated attacks by the Orion ship, which is armed with "standard phasers", the Enterprise's #4 shield buckles, at which time Kirk orders "auxiliary power", after which Chekov reports "Shields firming up, #4 is still weak, sir." * Kirk says to engineering: "Cut power on the port side, except for phaser banks." It is unclear whether this means there are phasers on the port side somewhere or if he means the port side of the forward banks. * The Orion ship is destroyed while closing on the Enterprise at sublight, at a range of around 75,000 kilometers. * Manny Coto originally pushed to have the short, gold-skinned species from this episode attend the Coalition of Planets conference in , but it proved too expensive. He named the species Ithanite, which was mentioned in by time traveler Daniels. In the confrontation between Sarek and Gav, the close ups show Gav holding his drink in his left hand but in the long shots, his drink is in his right hand. * In the scene where they talk about Spock's boyhood pet and also in a sickbay scene, there is tape on the floor, at the bottom of the shot, where the actors are supposed to hit their marks. Remastered Information Image:Shuttlebay and Vulcan TOSR.jpg|''Galileo'' approaches from Vulcan Image:HangarDeckRemastered.jpg|The hangar deck, with observers and Columbus added Image:Orion_scoutship,_remastered.jpg|A more detailed view of the Orion ship * The remastered version of this episode premiered in syndication the weekend of and featured several notably altered effects. The Enterprise shuttlebay and landing sequence was completely redone digitally, featuring a number of background actors visible within the viewing galleries. Also revamped were shots of Vulcan (now more closely resembling its appearance in Star Trek: Enterprise) and the battle between the Enterprise and the Orion ship, now more featuring an identifiable design. :The next remastered episode that aired was . Production timeline * Story outline by D.C. Fontana, * First draft teleplay: * Second revised draft teleplay: * Filmed late September. * Remastered episode airdate, . Links and References Starring * William Shatner as Captain Kirk * Leonard Nimoy as Spock * DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy Guest Stars * Miss Jane Wyatt as Amanda * Mark Lenard as Sarek Featuring * Nichelle Nichols as Uhura * William O'Connell as Thelev * Majel Barrett as Nurse Chapel * Walter Koenig as Chekov * John Wheeler as Gav * James X. Mitchell as Josephs And * Reggie Nalder as Shras Uncredited Cast * William Blackburn as Hadley * Jerry Catron as Montgomery * Billy Curtis as a copper-colored alien * Frank da Vinci as Sarek's aide * Jim Shepherd as William O'Connell's stunt double References Babel Conference; benjisidrine; cardiostimulator; ''Columbus; ''Galileo''; general quarters; hangar deck; heart surgery; observation deck; Orion; Orion scoutship; quarterly physical; Rigelians; Saurian brandy; sehlat; shuttlecraft; steri-field; surgical support frame; T-negative; Tal-Shaya; trititanium External Links * |next= |lastair= |nextair= |lastair_remastered= |nextair_remastered= }} Category:TOS episodes de:Reise nach Babel es:Journey to Babel fr:Journey to Babel nl:Journey to Babel